The known prior art of solar collection includes collectors which must always be pointed directly at the sun. While these collectors are reasonably efficient, they have the disadvantage of requiring repositioning as the sun moves across the sky thereby increasing the cost and restricting the practical size of the collector. This size restriction increases the number of collectors required for power plants and the cost of the solar collecting assembly. Additionally, many of the solar collection schemes either built as prototypes or as conceptualized models, include collectors that are pointed at the sun via a motorized assembly. While these collectors are efficient by virtue of their sophisticated tracking mechanisms, they are limited to some practical (usually small) size to reduce strain on the tracking motors. To offset the increased number of collectors needed to equal the collection efficiency of a much larger tracking collector, a greater number of solar collectors is required. This increases the total cost of the solar collecting array and also is a less efficient scheme, especially when used to generate large quantities of energy as at a commercial electrical generating plant.
Representative of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,927 issued to Harry Caplan. This patent describes a solar-thermal power system employing adjustable curvature reflective panels. The reflective panels are movably supported on yoke structures allowing the panels to be moved as the sun assumes a plurality of positions in the sky. Each of these panels includes a plurality of individual panels which extend in a side-by-side relationship to form a substantially continuous surface. The individual panels are secured to support members by a plurality of threaded rods received by apertured plywood gusset plates. The individual panels are moved toward and away from the support members through the use of adjustment nuts, thereby achieving fine tuning of the reflector surface curvature. Course tuning of the reflects is accomplished by a motor which operates to automatically keep the reflectors properly aligned.
A second prior art reference directed to an apparatus for collecting solar energy is U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,217 issued to Lloyd Wartes. This patent shows a collecting system employing a plurality of individual reflector units which rotate about their horizontal axis of elongation as the elevation of the sun changes, thereby maintaining a convergence of the reflected rays at the receiving means. Similarly, the U.S. Pat. No. 1,386,781 issued to Walter Harvey describes a solar energy collection system utilizing a number of reflects to "track" the sun.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 412,724; 509,390; 1,367,472; 2,969,918; 3,466,119 and 3,905,352 describe solar heaters which employ movable reflectors. No patent or other prior art reference was discovered in which the reflectors remain substantially immovable and a plurality of vanes are utilized to direct the solar energy in a vertical direction to the reflectors in an economical and efficient manner. The art cited herein is the closest prior art known to the Applicant.